Frid stared at Victor’s back as he walked past us toward the door.
We were just getting comfortable when the music started to play in the dining hall later that night. All four of us were seated at the end of the long wooden table, close to the door to the kitchen. I scowled, noticing the intentional sign of disrespect. Even risking our lives out there did not change the fact that we belonged to the bloodlines of traitors. The four remaining dragon houses would never accept any of us, and there was nothing we could do about it.
The assortment of meats and wine made me frown. It was so difficult to find fresh food these days, yet the peopleof Hogtain were able to indulge in such a feast. The hall was packed with citizens who did not know what real hunger was, I was sure of it. These people were lucky they had a fortress wall separating them from the horrors of the borderlands. They did not act like they were living with the constant fear of being eaten alive, as all of us have been for the past ten years, and yet the reminders of the world we were surrounded by were everywhere.
My eyes fell on a group of children playing together. One of the boys held a wooden figure of a dragon while another held a cloth doll that was attacking it. A girl, not more than three years old, was sobbing, too scared of the game. Even the young ones were affected by the enormous shift in our way of living. Kids born after the outbreak did not even know what it felt like to play in the woods, to run around freely.
How quickly everything we knew perished, evaporated into thin air, as if it never existed. I was sixteen when the unknown sickness started to spread at one of Talman’s borders. We did not know back then that the disease was highly contagious, and that eighty percent of the non-dragon population would be affected by the plague. How ironic. The dragonborn treated people like second-class citizens for as long as I could remember. Humans were not allowed to occupy high-ranking positions, and had to pay taxes on everything. They could not step onto sacred lands, or marry any dragonborns. But the disease changed everything. The ravaging waves of crawlers traveled from sea to sea, makingthe descendants of the gods hide behind castle walls, scared for their lives.
I turned away and picked up my goblet.
A short, heavy man in a long tunic approached our corner.
“It took you forever. Next time, I expect you to be done before nightfall.” The man’s neck gleamed with multiple golden chains that, undoubtedly, served the purpose of asserting his birth right to lead the people.
I sneered. Those attributes meant nothing in the real world. A new hierarchy was only a matter of time, and soon only the ones who could spit fire would rule the land.
“We will not need you for the rest of the week. I expect you to clean up the area outside the walls when you are done with your other duties.” He raised his weak chin, meeting my gaze.
I clenched my teeth. He acted like we were his subordinates, as if he could boss us around.
From the corner of my eye, I could see that the attention of the whole table was focused solely on me. I did not trust myself to respond, and only looked at him, barely holding back the fire that was burning me alive.
The Lord of Hogtain stood for a moment longer before moving away.
“Why do you let him talk to you like that?” Victor hissed.
Ignoring him, I picked up a leg of chicken and took a bite, staring at the retreating figure of the lord of the castle.
“What do you suggest?” Frid snapped.
“I have a couple of ideas,” Victor muttered, pouring himself a glass of wine.
“We’re Shadows. I hope you remember that.” Frid leaned forward, her bright blue eyes glared in the light of the torches.
“Don’t worry. I didn’t forget. Not with you reminding me every ten minutes.” Victor sat back in his chair, breaking apart a piece of chunky, gray bread with his lean fingers.
I closed my eyes, already knowing that we would hear their bickering for the rest of the meal. Frid could not let Victor get away with anything, and the latter enjoyed making her mad.
“Where to next?” Solomon lowered his voice.
I shifted my gaze to him. His broad body was stretched to the extreme. His large head and thick neck made him look like a giant. He has been exceptionally tall since we were children. I could still see the four of us playing as kids. Frid, being the only girl among us, received an unfair amount of teasing, especially from Victor. I could still see her running away from him as he carried a frog on a shovel while Sol watched them with his arms crossed on his chest.
“We stay until our orders come.” I sipped my wine, pleasantly surprised it was not diluted with water.
“They’ll just keep throwing us to the crawlers until we get torn to shreds,” Victor said.
“Come on. Just stop it!” Frid bit her lip.
Solomon looked down at his plate.
We all agreed on that. The council will never forget whatour clan did. The civil war that our fathers almost started, the destruction and deaths that we had to pay for by serving the same people who executed our leaders, and destroyed everything the clan worked so hard for. Since then, our people have lived in exile, stripped of all resources and dignity. The children of the banished noble families were expected to serve the crown, and fill the ranks of Shadows. We had to atone for the ancestral debt by risking our lives, completing the jobs no one else wanted. But that was before the outbreak. The crawlers changed everything. Now, all we dealt with were the undead.
I shifted my gaze back to the Lord of Hogtain. He sat in the center of the table surrounded by his sons and wives. After the outbreak, there were many women in need of protection and it became acceptable for rich men to have several wives, as long as they could provide for them. I took a sip of my wine, watching his kids play together. The children ranged from about six to about ten years old. One of his wives held a baby in her arms.
“Where are we sleeping? I hope to have separate rooms this time,” Victor said.
“I would love to wash up.” Frid sniffed her forearm.
